


For the Living God

by Megane



Category: The Tempest Series - T. D. Cloud
Genre: Astral Projection, Bone Magic, Claiming, Fox Demon, Gen, Hallucinogenic Overstimulation, Illusions, Magic, Minor Original Character(s), Near Death Experiences, Overstimulation, Rituals, Soul Bond, Vessels, Visions, Working at a Temple, smoke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 17:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10926276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megane/pseuds/Megane
Summary: It was Corbet's turn to become a vessel for the fox guardian. The process seemed too easy to mess up— in theory anyway. Experiencing it was a whole different thing.





	For the Living God

**Author's Note:**

> My goodness, my gracious. It's been a long time since I've _written_ anything. I can't believe it. For a while, all I could think was "Is there something wrong with me…?", but lo! I managed to spit this one out, and I'm pretty happy about it. There's a chance I might be adding more in the future, but right now, I want to focus on the major projects I have right now.
> 
> Also, I want to thank my supporters for being so patient. Y'all're the real MVPs right here.

        “ _It’s time…”_

Corbet could feel the whisper of a breath behind him. The voice was low and caressing and uncomfortably intimate given the proximity. It made the fine hairs on the back of Corbet’s neck stand up straight. He clapped a hand over the back of his neck and twisted around to glare at the source of the noise. Only… There was no one behind him. The voice and the presence it brought were gone, leaving Corbet alone and slightly irritated. He kneaded his fingers against his neck before hesitantly facing forward again. He turned the feather duster in his other hand, trying to ground himself in the moment again.

The feathery end of his cleaning tool bobbed with each bouncing turn Corbet gave. Long lines of dust clung firm, however, but when Corbet blinked, the feather duster changed from its melancholic blue colour into a fiery orange. Corbet’s brows furrowed in confusion. He brought the duster closer to his face. There was a gentle trail of colour not unlike flame embers as he moved the item, but no warmth radiated from the duster itself. It was just brilliant in colour, smoldering in nature—

Corbet blinked, and the feather duster returned to normal. He blinked again, this time in rapid confusion. The feather duster didn’t change again, but that brief transformation combined with the voice… It really was time, wasn’t it? He chewed on the inside of his bottom lip thoughtfully. He had been told this would happen, that one day he would get the Call, but honestly? A part of him never actually believed that it would happen. Corbet sighed, gave the feather duster one last sway, and moved closer to the statue he had been dusting before. 

Where was Aja when he needed her?

Just as the question passed through his mind, the wooden doors slid open behind him. Corbet laughed softly to himself. “Right there, I guess,” he muttered to himself as he pressed his left hand flat against the mats. He leaned forward to wipe at the molding closer to the back of the statue. He crinkled up his nose and squinted his eyes. Augh, the dust was pretty thick back here. 

        “What was that, Corbet?” Aja asked with a smile in her voice.

        Corbet shook his head, not entirely sure if she could see him or not. “Nothing. Just had a… ‘Speak of the… devil’ moment. Oh god, I wanna sneeze.” 

        Aja laughed gently. Corbet felt her stop somewhere near his feet. “Well, we both know I can be rather devilish,” the older woman replied.

        Corbet smiled. “Isn’t that the truth?”

He sat back and pulled his left hand into his sleeve. He rubbed at his nose harshly. The urge to sneeze tickled the back of his throat and the base of his tongue. His right eye twitched; he tightened up in anticipation for the final release. The tickling sensation ran up to his nose, but nothing came of it. Corbet wasn’t sure what face he was making, but he was glad most of his face was hidden by his sleeve.

        “Everything okay?” Aja’s voice was so warm and steady, but he could hear the laugh underlying her words.

        “Yeah, just…… Augh.” Corbet lowered his arm and shook his head. “Dust.”

        “Ah, yes. The prayer rooms are all rather dusty in their own.” Aja leaned in to inspect the statue Corbet had been working on. Her voice lowered to a thoughtful tone. “All of them except the guardian’s, I suspect.”

        Corbet curled his lip against his nose a few times before speaking, “Speaking of the guardian. I think I heard the Call a little while ago.”

Aja perked up almost immediately. She focused solely on Corbet, and her smile was so bright. She seemed proud of him. The realisation made Corbet blush slightly. He looked away from her maternal expression and shifted in place. 

        “Did you really?” she asked.

Corbet nodded his head. Before he could reply, he felt a phantom touch over his right shoulder. He frowned and brushed it away as nonchalantly as he could. If that was the guardian, then it was annoyingly persistent.

        “Yeah…” Corbet said as he curled his fingers against his shoulder and gave it a roll. 

        “Well then.” Aja gave a little laugh and looked towards the door. “Then, I guess it’s time.” After a couple of seconds, she looked towards him and motioned for him to stand. “I’m sure the guardian will be pleased with your work today, but come, come. Someone else will finish where you left off."

Corbet gave a short nod and then pushed himself up into a standing position. He winced slightly when his knees buckled and again when one of them gave a loud pop. Aja smiled at him before reaching over and patting him on the back. “Happens to us all,” she said softly. Corbet made a face. He had the perfect reply to that, but he stayed his tongue. He reached down to rub both his knees– one and then the other– before walking towards the door. She then brought her hands behind her back. The two of them left the prayer room side by side and exited out into the main hall.

        “I hope you’re as excited as I am,” Aja said as Corbet slid the prayer room door closed. “It’s a very important day today.”

        Corbet’s hands hesitated before coming back to his sides. “Actually…” he began. He turned and saw Aja staring at him with slightly raised brows. “I’m still a bit skeptical about this whole thing. Is that bad?”

Aja chuckled and then tipped her head forward ever so slightly, signaling that they both start walking. Corbet came to her side, and they began down the hall together. There was a fifteen second pause between his question and her answer. As they walked, tension set heavy in his shoulders and made his spine stiffen. To his very visible relief, she only gave a wistful sigh and a small shake of her head.

        “Not at all,” she finally replied. “Back when it was my turn, I don’t think I was ever fully sold on the ceremony as well. It just all sounded so… fantastical…” She waved a hand dismissively. “I believed in the people who told me about it because they were so earnest and honest, but there was just something about the actual _process_ that made made me scrunch up my nose. I just couldn’t put my faith in it.”

        “At first,” Corbet replied, motioning a hand towards the ornament in Aja’s hair.

        “Yes,” Aja shook her head, making the ornament swing freey for a moment. She looked over to Corbet with a satisfied smile. “At first.”

There was a moment of silence between them in which Corbet felt the deeper peace behind that expression. He wondered if it would be the same for him. When Aja looked away to focus straight ahead, he did as well.

        “Well then. Let’s not dally, Corbet.”

He nodded his head and fell back a step or two to let her lead the way. As Aja guided him, Corbet took a moment to reflect on what lay ahead of him. He knew that he wasn’t nervous about the ritual. He knew what he was meant to do— he had to appeal to the fox guardian and earn its favour. He had the technicals of _how_ down pat, but it was meant to happen after that was the big mystery to him. From what he had been told, the results vary slightly from person to person, but the experience itself was only worth talking about in full if and when he finished the ritual.

And _if_ he earned the favour.

Aja and some of the others promised that it wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but Corbet, for the life of him, couldn’t imagine how anyone could fuck it up. What was the fox guardian judging that made the entire process difficult…? He tapped his teeth together thoughtfully and let out a small noise. He had been purposefully left in the dark– maybe to keep him from thinking too hard about the ritual. Either way, he didn’t have enough information to speculate, so thinking himself into a circle would be pointless. 

He instead focused on his attention on where they were going. They passed by rooms that were familiar to him now. Some of the doors were opened, and he could peer within. There was one person he noticed that was praying beside her bed. Her glasses were folded over the sheets, and her hands were folded neatly under her head. Corbet hesitated a moment to take in the silent submission she was in. He paused only for a moment, but then he let her be. Aja didn’t stop; she kept ahead at a steady pace. Her wrinkled hands were behind her back still, one hand cupping the wrist of the other. Her entire posture was relaxed, and the hair ornament turned to the left slowly before turning back again.

She had been through this once before, but she never explained her experience in detail. Corbet hoped that she would tell him after all of this was over. She seemed at peace now— he had nothing to compare it to. He hadn’t been born when she first took her test, but… She had this calming presence about her. Something that only truly came from _within_. It was strange for him to think like that, but it was true.

He wondered what would happen to him when this was all over. Would he be the same or… something different…?

As they approached the stairs, he immediately spotted a brown pouch sitting inside of an open censer sitting on the banister. Ah. He knew what he would have to do. He stopped in front of the items just as Aja had motioned him to. She laughed a little, perhaps noticing the timing of their actions, and she continued forward just a bit until she came to the banister on the other side of the stairs. Corbet kept his focus on the items set in front of him. The bag was just a regular, small brown pouch tied off with a bit of frayed rope. The lid of the censer was set carefully to the right; the bronze was polished, but the censer itself still looked antiquated, invaluable. There were small ornate embossments along the seam where the top and bottom of the censer were to be connected. Looking between the two, Corbet wasn’t able to decipher the meaning of the pattern. If there even was one.

        “Are you ready?” Aja asked, her voice pulling him away from his scrutiny. 

Corbet took in a deep breath. His heart pounded hard enough that he could feel it everywhere, especially in his chest, the middle of his back, the nape of his neck, and the back of his head. 

        “Yeah, I just…” He trailed off and shook his head. He reached his hands up to take the incense bag. He tried again. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

He pulled open the scraggly rope and widened the mouth of the pouch. He looked within before pouring the contents into the bowl of the censer. White-grey powder with even whiter fragmented chips filled the polished bronze container; something about it was… a little unsettling. He wasn’t sure why, but seeing it made his chest constrict. He sighed out through parted lips and placed it off to the side, trading it for the censer’s lid. He took the bottom half into his other hand, carefully holding it by its tapered base as he stepped away from the banister.

He turned to face Aja, though his attention was still focused on the powder within. Was this incense? Surely, it had to be, but as that thought passed through his mind, something told him that he was wrong, _wrong_ , and he didn’t know why.

        “You seem distressed,” Aja said in a soothing voice. She was always there when she needed him, huh…

        Corbet looked up to her. “This is incense, right?” he asked slowly, too softly for it to be his own voice.

        “Of a kind.” She motioned him closer with one hand.

Corbet winced. Of a kind…? That constriction within him became tighter. No, it became sentient, a crawling sensation that wriggled from the center of his chest and bloomed outward. He moved closer, matching Aja step for step until they met at the top of the staircase. 

        “What’s it made of?”

“Mn.” Aja struck a match and let the end of the stick of dark grey incense she held. Looking at it eased the growing, crawling tension he felt inside, but Corbet wasn’t sure why. Aja waved the inside in front of his eyes, drawing a figure eight pattern, and Corbet felt himself grow tired. The nameless constriction slowed until it stopped completely. Its weight inside of him felt like a second skeleton now, but he didn’t feel confined. He just felt as if there was something else sharing his body, and if he wasn’t so at ease right now, he might have made a fuss about it.

        “You’ll find out in time,” Aja assured him as she finally set the incense stick and its match into the powder.

        Corbet gave a halfhearted scoff. “Should have figured you’d say that.”

Aja gave a little smile as a thin line of smoke trailed up from the both the incense powder and stick. She moved back to grab something off the banister. Corbet looked down to the open censer in his hands, and then he carefully, sluggishly, covered the contents with the bronze lid. He twisted it in place before taking the chain in his hand. He kept the bottom cradled with his right hand. Aja returned to him with a veil she had draped over both her hands. Corbet took in a slow breath. 

        “This is really happening, isn’t it?” his voice sounded distant, dreamlike.

        Aja stroked her thumbs against the veil. She gave a slow nod before meeting his eyes. “It most certainly is.”

        Corbet closed his eyes and gave the slightest, single nod of his head. 

They bowed to one another. Without standing up, Corbet lowered down to one knee. He felt the veil flow over his head. The soft material fell over his face, and he was a bit surprised by how gentle the texture was against his skin. He opened his eyes and stood upright. The world had a slightly grey tint to it now because of the veil. Aja gave one last bow as he stood. The action was reverent and given with the utmost respect. Corbet felt strange being regarded in such a way.

        “Good luck,” Aja said as she began stepping backwards out of the way, still bowed. “Keep your eyes focused. The guardian will see you there."

Corbet turned to face the world just a few steps away. Once he left the veranda, there would be no turning back now. He only needed a moment to collect himself. When he was ready, he moved his right hand from the bottom of the censer and let it hand freely from its chain, which he held tight in his left hand. The censer swung gently with each step he took. At first, it moved back and forth, towards and away from him, but with a gentle coaxing of his wrist, it began to sway left and right instead.

He walked along the brown stone path that would take him down to the guardian’s temple. He had vistied it many times before, mostly to dust and clean, but each time, he could swear there was something there. Again, that word “presence” played a heavy part. Now, he was going not as a passing visitor, but as a follower wishing to express his submission. The idea made him frown. He wasn’t going to submit. He wanted to make peace; he wanted to play his part in the entire temple’s longevity. He didn’t want to kowtow to the guardian just because. He may have known what was going to happen, but he would make sure that any idea of “submission” or whatever was pushed far, far away.

The closer he came to the fox guardian’s domain, the more he felt the atmosphere change. By the time he reached the second set of stairs, everything felt decidedly different. The smoke from the censer spilled forth in a thick cloud, pouring down over the side and over the floor as he walked. Corbet glanced down to it when he felt warmth enveloping his ankles. Was there really enough incense to create such a cloud…? He noticed that the cloud was thick and dark grey but shifted into a light, almost white, grey as it billowed downward. Curiosity almost made him look backwards, but Aja’s voice chimed through his mind like a warning.

        “ _Keep your eyes focused. The guardian will see you there."_

Corbet grit his teeth together and resisted the temptation. 

As he neared the second set of stairs, the temple became more visible to him. That shared feeling within him became more noticeable with a single pulsation. Corbet’s step faltered. His heart hammered in his chest, and he took a couple of steps backwards, wanting more than anything not to fall down the stairs. He waited for the sudden rush of adrenaline to pass and then a bit longer for him to feel… not quite as heavy on the inside. He waited

        and waited

               but nothing changed.

He grit his teeth together and swallowed. A breeze kicked in and passed over him. As he closed his eyes, he saw the smoke from the censer waft upward towards his face. That sensation of calmness flowed over him once again, and only when he felt borderline sleep again did his internal conflict pass. Corbet laughed breathlessly. “Thanks,” he muttered to the wind, to nothing in particular. But as he began down the stairs, he swore– he _swore_ – he could feel something behind him.

He kept his gaze forward and didn’t look back.

He noticed that there was something odd about the temple. The windows and entrance door was open, but they were pitch black on the inside. Actually, something else as well: the temple itself stood out in stark contrast to its surroundings. The trees, the stone, everything around the temple seemed less saturated. Corbet’s brows quirked together. He turned his gaze heavenward and noticed that even the sky was a far less vibrant shade of blue.

“What the…” Corbet muttered to himself. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to take in the sight before him. What… did any of this mean? This had to be the fox guardian’s doing, but… why? Corbet closed his eyes and shook his head oh so slowly. If he spent more time thinking about this, he was never going to get this done. It was just best to go forward, so the ritual could be over and done with. With one foot hesitantly in front of the other, Corbet closed the last few meters between him and the temple. As the censer swung left and right, it swung slower, freezing almost at the peak of its swings before going back to normal. He ignored it. It was only a distraction— a pretty good one, admittedly, but a distraction nonetheless.

The swinging decreased in power the closer he got, and once he stepped through the threshold of the temple doors, the censer stopped moving altogether and hung like a dead, immovable weight at the end of its chain. Despite the darkness he saw outside, the wall opposite the entrance was lit with candles. There was also a soft humming in the air. The sound would have been lulling if it wasn’t, to some degree, unnerving. Corbet walked into the center of the room and stared at the altar. He licked his lips and slowly came down onto both knees. The smoke pouring out from the censer created a thick cloud for him to sit in. He set it down on the floor an arm’s length away from his body.

The candlelight wavered on the altar, but Corbet paid it no mind. He brought his legs together, set his hands palms down on the mat in front of his knees, and bent forward. He touched his forehead against the back of his hands and breathed in the smoke. The shared feeling began to lift out of his body slowly; he shuddered bodily as his consciousness separated between the different planes. He curled his fingers briefly and calmed his mind.

 _Fox Guardian, I’m answering your Call_ , he thought.

The words echoed between his physical and astral mind. And somewhere between the planes, he felt something reach reach out for him. A hand touched the back of his neck. The fingers felt slender as they curled around his neck. They were there for a moment before pulling away. There was a lingering touch that made the hairs on his neck stand up again.

        “… _So you have…”_

There was movement ahead of him, but something in his mind told him to stay down and keep his eyes closed. He listened. He was never one to refute his instincts. There was a noise above him, almost sensual in its thoughtfulness, and then a voice spoke. He could feel the words coming into existence before they were actually spoken.

        “ _Your mind is heavy– burdensome… You’re a curious one, are you not?”_

        “It’s just… a lot to take in.”

        “ _Hmph… We can tell."_

Corbet gasped. He wasn’t sure what they were doing, but he felt that “second part” of him shift. It felt as if a hand was stroking along his heart. The feeling was a little nauseating, and it melted into a definite pressure behind his eyes when he felt something moving in his skull. 

        “ _Your mind troubles ours. What is it that you wish to know?"_

        Corbet laughed in spite of himself. “So much. Isn’t it easy for you to figure out?”

        “ _It is.”_ The guardian sounded satisfied. Corbet’s brows twitched together as the pressure grew. A sharp pain rang through him and made his body tremble. He felt it down to his bones. When it finally relented, he went boneless over his own legs. He separated his hands under his head, letting his forehead touch against the mats, which he was only just now aware felt cooler.

        “ _We will explain this in basic terms. You are to become this generation’s vessel, should you succeed. If you fail, you and your temple will suffer a blight until we receive appropriate recompense."_

A far more straightforward explanation than what he got over the past few months. Corbet nodded. 

        “I know that much.”

        “ _And you must also know that we will make this difficult for you if you do not cooperate."_

        Corbet deflated, a little aggravated by the guardian’s haughtiness. “I know all of _that_ ,” he snapped in spite of himself. “I wanted to know something else.”

        A moment of silence. The pressure behind his eyes faded away. He felt a shifting ahead of him. Somehow, he knew that the fox guardian was changing position. _“Then rise, young one, and tell us your griefs.”_

Corbet sat up. “Well, first I—” He stopped almost immediately when he realised that there was no one in front of him. Was it a trick? Was the guardian not really there? Before he could stop himself, he reached forward and waved his hand in the air where he thought someone was standing. Nothing… He didn’t catch onto anything. He sucked in a breath between his teeth and eased back to properly sit on his legs.

        “What’s the incense made of?” It was on the forefront of his mind, the thing that started all of this unease. 

        “ _It is made from our bones.”_

        The answer was given so plainly, and yet somehow, Corbet didn’t expect it at all. “How?”

        “ _You will find out in time.”_

        Corbet laughed, soft, short, and humourless. “Ah… You sound like someone I know.” He paused for a moment to think of his next question. “Will it hurt to be your vessel?”

        “ _Only if you fail to be compatible,”_ the fox guardian said. Corbet felt a touch of coldness over his fingertips, but it quickly faded. _“However, you have not.”_

        “I haven’t…?” Corbet was given a moment to think before the realisation dawned on him. “Guess that explains that ‘doubled’ feeling.”

        A chuckle. It was pleasing to the ears. _“What more do you not understand?"_

Corbet couldn’t offer anything else. He shook his head slowly, and his eyes fell closed on their own. As he relaxed, he felt a new tickle in his throat. Suddenly, he felt as if he was caught in a fire as smoke was filling his lungs. He brought both hands to his throat and coughed gently, trying to dissuade the burning sensation. It overpowered him faster than he was able to recover, and Corbet doubled over. Solace only came when the incense smoke flooded into him and washed away the fire. Corbet caught his breath, and he felt as if he was left thrown upon a lonely shore, desperately trying to catch his breath.

He pushed himself back into his former sitting position. He trailed his fingers from his throat, down the front of his body, and over the folds of his robe. The fox guardian only spoke when Corbet had calmed down. 

        “ _What is your name?”_

        “… Corbet.”

        The fox guardian chuckled.  _“A long way from France, are you not?”_

        “Guess so…” Corbet stared down at the ground, and he thought he could see the faint outline of feet. “Let’s just say I’m… seeing the world.”

        “ _Are you…?”_  The fox guardian’s voice rolled with curiosity. Each syllable was purred. He could feel them tilt their head, but he still couldn’t see their face.

        Corbet pressed his lips together. “What’s your name?”

Whispers echoed through the room, and as they filtered down into his body, the coalesced into that strange feeling of duplicity again. Thankfully, it only lasted a second.

        “ _Let us give you a name that would be more familiar."_

The following silence made his chest constrict again. That phantom self of his vanished with the closing of the planes. Corbet suddenly felt alone, all too aware of his placement in the physical world. The smoke no longer had a calming effect on him, and he felt as if he was being crushed by he overwhelming weight of reality. But soon, there was a saving grace.

_"Avenir…"_

A whisper cut through the silence, freeing him from his hyper aware chains. It was only when he came down from that crippling clarity did Avenir appear to him. Six small orbs of colourless fox fire appeared in front of him, spinning clockwise in a small circle before exploding outward into the shape of a person. 

Merlot red robes with soft orange accents billowed off the fox guardian's graceful figure. The fox fires turned a deep blue colour and floated over Avenir’s shoulders, three on each side. The fox guardian, Avenir, stared down at Corbet with hooded, piercing eyes. Their fox ears were large, as dark as their hair, and tipped slightly forward. Corbet took in all of Avenir standing before him. They were here– they were real. He took in a slow breath and suddenly felt as if he couldn’t breathe again.

Avenir smiled at him, their ears twitching just the slightest bit higher. They reached into their sleeve and produced a smoking pipe. They turned the pipe slowly, and Corbet noticed that the fingers were just as slender as he felt they were. The pipe was extended in his direction. Corbet noticed that the smoke from the censer slowly started to fade away.

        “This will help,” Avenir said softly, rubbing the pipe with their thumb.

It was too late to be hesitant, and more than that, Corbet was beginning to feel lightheaded. He reached for the pipe with both hands. He took a second to look at it, but there wasn’t enough time to truly admire the shape and craft of it. He brought it to his lips, inhaled, and blissfully drowned in the relieving sea.

Corbet didn’t even feel when his body hit the floor, completely boneless and weightless. The pipe rolled away from him; the smoke from the censer disappeared completely. Corbet felt as if he was breathing through the very air itself. He was seeing but not quiet seeing; the world around him was hazy. The veil, just barely situated on his head, only made his vision worse. Avenir’s feet came into Corbet’s direct line of sight. The fox guardian dropped down onto one knee, reached under the veil, and stroked Corbet’s face. He sighed quietly, his eyes fluttering closed.

        “Where do you want our symbol?”

Symbol…? Corbet felt as if his mind was slipping away. His breathing went shallow. Was he losing conscious? Was he falling asleep? Was he dying? They were all the same in their own regard, weren’t they? Suddenly, the imagery of Aja’s hair ornament came to his mind. Corbet’s fingers twitched. He was going to point… somewhere… but he lost the will to midway through the effort. His hand fell flat onto the mats again.

        “Wherever…” Corbet sighed. It took too much effort to speak. He just wanted to fall into the darkness. 

        Avenir chuckled. “Wherever? Such freedom…” 

They slid their hand down to his neck and squeezed. Corbet’s eyes closed completely. A searing fire wrapped around his throat, but it didn’t burn. The fingers drew away, and the last thing he felt was the veil sliding off his head.

 

        “So you’ve passed.”

Corbet blinked repeatedly before opening his eyes. Aja sat beside his bed and— wait, his bed? Corbet jerked up into a sitting position. He kept his left hand against the bed to keep him balanced. He stared towards his opened door in shock. When had he come back? How did…? He turned his head towards Aja, and the first thing that Corbet noticed was that the hair ornament was a much paler orange than it was before. 

        “Aja…”

        She laughed in delight. “I must admit your symbol placement is cute– and a little scandalous.”

        “I… What?”

Aja pulled a hand out of her sleeve and made a motion towards her neck. Corbet touched his own, and then he touched it with both hands. From what he could feel, he had a thick, woven chocker around his neck about two inches heightwise. A small gold U-shaped fastener extended from the center, and a woven lanyard much like Aja’s hung from it. Several loose strings connected the actual choker and then ornamental symbol in a decorative fashion. Corbet’s eyes widened and he brought the neck of his robe tighter around his neck to hide it.

He heard an airy laugh and looked back towards his door again. He could see Avenir leaning in the doorway, their arms crossed loosely over their chest and a smirk on their lips. They looked away towards something he couldn’t see, but their ears perked up curiously. They pushed away from the door and began down the hall towards somewhere unknown. 

        “Your eyes have the glow…” Aja said fondly.

        Corbet blinked slowly, his attention slowly returning to back to Aja. “Glow?”

        “Your eyes.” She crossed her arms loosely over her middle and gave a soft laugh. Corbet was suddenly aware that she was whispering. “They’re a lovely orange.”

        “Are they? I guess they…” Corbet looked at her and frowned. “You okay?”

        Aja nodded slowly. “Of course… Just a little tired, Corbet."

        Corbet had a bad feeling about that. He slid to the edge of his bed, his knees touching against hers as he reached forward to place a hand on her shoulder. “Aja, don’t fall asleep yet.”

        “It’s just for a little while.” She laughed sweetly. Her voice was getting weaker.

        “Aja… _Aja_ , don’t leave like this.”

The smile on her fae was peaceful, as sweet and soulful as it had always been, but— but! Corbet grit his teeth together, fighting against the dread that threatened to take him.

        “As a little girl… I always did love… the freshly fallen snow…” Aja said.

She reached up to touch Corbet on the wrist. Her hand stayed on him for a while, but soon slipped and fell away. Corbet leaned back. His teeth chattered as the dread finally took over. Something new flourished in his chest— a sadness he had never known before. He brought up his hands and crushed them against his face. He sucked in a shaking breath before sighing out against his palms. He slid his hands down a bit and looked at Aja’s still form. His eyes caught on the hair ornament, which lost all of his colour. As he watched it, the beautiful decoration that stayed so immaculate in Aja’s hair finally frayed and fell away.

As it collided with the floor, Corbet, a vessel for the almighty fox guardian, felt the hollowness echo in his heart— and he was all alone.


End file.
